Behind Her Back
by Takada Saiko
Summary: Jai and Auggie have a talk about trust and lies while waiting on Joan and Arthur to finish their fight after Joan finds out about Liza Hearn. Spoilers for ep 9. R


A/N: I do not own Covert Affairs yadda yadda yadda... So, latest episode definitely made up for the dud the week before. I freaked out when Arthur found out, not going to lie. I mean, you knew it'd come to light, but it was still nerve wracking. And holy crap, I didn't see Jai's involvement quite that deep. Augh! And next week is the finale and I won't be able to see it! Ugh. So glad hulu carries it...

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**Behind Her Back**

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They'd been locked in Joan's office for several hours. The entire DPD had grown unusually silent in some sick hope of hearing something that was going on behind the closed door. Only two people all but knew, and a third was pretty sure she was on the right track. The pieces weren't too hard to fit together. Other than that, the DPD sat on the edge of their chairs, so to speak, to see who would leave the office the victor.

Auggie buried his face in his hands and let out a low, frustrated sigh. He'd told Arthur he was uncomfortable hiding their plan from Joan, but the elder man had proven he had no issue pulling rank and holding issues already supposedly dealt with over the young tech operator's head. Even so it left Auggie feeling sick inside. He'd never meant to betray Joan.

"She'll forgive you," Jai's voice sounded from the door. "She always does."

"I think I will have hit my limit with this one," Auggie groaned.

Jai's expensive shoes tapped against the floor and the sound of the glass door being slid shut could be heard. "Arthur pulls rank on people. Joan knows this. Joan won't hold this against you."

"I hold it against me."

"Why?"

"I… should have done something different."

Clothing shuffled ever so slightly as Jai shrugged. "Like what? The op was twisted, I'll give that to you, but sometimes the ends justify the means, as they say."

Auggie shifted and turned his face so that he was looking in Jai's general direction. "Do you speak from experience?"

There was a long pause and Jai sighed. "I think we've all done things we don't like for the Company, haven't we?"

Auggie nodded, thinking back to Natasha Petrovna. He sighed, weighing the question in his mind against office propriety. Once said, many things couldn't be forgotten. "Are you running an op on Annie?" There. Out in the open. To hell with propriety.

"What?"

Auggie stood, squaring his shoulders. He and Jai had had plenty of confrontations – both in joking manners and times when it had grown more heated than it ever should have – but this could break it. Any hope for a working relationship, and friendship, could go down the tube here and now. "Are you running an op on Annie Walker to get to Ben Mercer?"

"Where would you even-"

"That's not a denial," Auggie hissed. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. It wasn't working. "She cares about you, you son of a bitch. She may not love you, but she cares about you. If any one of us has been through enough, isn't it Annie?" His voice was shaking as he spoke, his fists clenched at his side. He wanted to grab Jai, to shake him, and yell and scream and tell him what a gift it was to not be Annie's best friend. To have her talk about him in that way. To care like that. He wanted…

"We all have to give things up, Auggie," Jai said lowly, his voice with no real conviction in it.

"Then give up on her and give those of us that really care half a chance to make her happy."

Silence hung heavily between the two men. Finally Auggie stood and moved past Jai, bumping him ever so slightly as he passed. "We're not allowed much room for trust in our line of work," he said carefully, as if tasting each word as he spoke them. "I'm tired of holding things back from people that I'm supposed to trust. There's no more of this going behind her back."

"Annie or Joan?" Jai murmured.

"Both." With that, Auggie left Jai standing in a darkened tech office by himself. He wasn't sure what Joan would say to him when she exited her office, her husband's and her fight over or at least at an end during the office hours, but he was sure that he was done with the bullshit. He trusted Joan. He trusted Annie. He wasn't sure if his trust extended much further past that, but he knew those two for sure, and he was willing to stand behind it. He had to stand behind it.

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A/N: So, first off, cookies and reviews are very welcome. Second, I really do think that Jai cares for Annie. I don't know if he started that way, but I think she's grown on him. Saying that, I don't think it'll end well when she realizes that he's kept her out of the loop so much. And, of course, I'm an AA fan =D


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